The Young And The Restless Weekly Blog

Watching "Y&R" in recent weeks has been very odd in that pretty much the opposite of everything I would want to see happen has happened, or at least it's sometimes felt that way. That doesn't necessarily mean it's been bad - it's been surprisingly riveting at times, in a maddening way of course. Perhaps audiences keep tuning in for just that reason - looking for a tease that things might be turning around and going their way at long last. So while I'm pulling my hair out, I'm also more engaged in the show than I've been in quite a long time. Does this make any sense at all, to anyone? Pass the aspirin...

Newman go round. While Victoria's getting sucked into Victor's corporate vortex for the millionth time, Noah's about to take his first whirl through. I doubt he'll take to the cutthroat environment any better than Nick did - he seems to have the same sensibilities as his father. When/if he does decide it's not for him, his new girlfriend, Courtney, may not be too happy - that girl was just way too excited about getting him into a suit and on his way up the Newman corporate ladder! Victor also has future prospects in Johnny and Connor, although given his distinct dislike and distrust of their respective fathers and Chelsea, who is bio-mom to both, it's curious that he even considers them worthy. It's interesting how he ignores and overlooks those kinds of technicalities when it suits him.

Open and shut case. This Carmine/Baldwin family storyline died long before Carmine was shot. Lauren's affair and reconciliation with Michael was an amazing story to watch play out, but things went sharply downhill once they took it into bad stalker movie territory. Suddenly there was no long-term potential for the storyline or Carmine's character, and many viewers realized how fatigued they'd become with Lauren repeatedly being a victim. It's anyone's guess who actually shot Carmine in the end. It could have been Fen, Kevin, a mugger in the alley, heck it could have been Ricky's ghost trying to redeem himself, my only concern is that this wraps up quickly so we're not subject to weeks of Lauren and Michael gnashing their teeth over Fuzzy Fen's amnesia.

Love. Tyler and Abby have grown on me. It's official. Now they need something interesting to do please.

Poking and prodding. Some were no doubt thrilled to see a thaw in relations between Adam and Chelsea, and even a hint that they might be able to be a family with Connor, while others were probably not thrilled at all. In any case, the scenes with them dealing with the news about Connor/Peanut (is Adam still going to change his name?) needing corneal transplants didn't really grab me emotionally - too matter of fact. Adam trying frantically to throw money at the problem was true to his character, but Chelsea sitting there talking about donor families seemed odd at a time when you'd expect more raw emotion.

Squeeze my hand. There was plenty of speculation after Phyllis squeezed Jack's hand about whether the character might soon be recast, or if it was just a plot device to prod Sharon into almost telling the whole truth. Either way, Sharon blurted out all of the truth except the important part, which made for some tense, entertaining scenes. The best part was Nick surprising us by not reacting as he would have in the past - by jumping into bed with her.

Unearthing Nikki's son. So after a couple of episodes with Nikki nervously eyeballing Dylan and Stitch together, it looks like our suspicions were correct and Dylan's being rooted firmly into Genoa City society as Nikki's long lost son. I'd kind of hoped the writers would go the less predictable route of making Stitch her son. Not only does Stitch actually seem like he could be older than Victoria, but he's charismatic and more of an unknown entity, which has appeal. Of course there are plenty of awkward connections involved with Dylan being Nikki's son which will make things interesting too - not the least of which is that it makes him Nick's half-brother. I'll admit to having an eyeball roll over Victor going the oh-so-obvious route of warning Dylan to stay away from his family, though. It would be refreshing if they would change that tune every once and a while. How do you feel about Dylan being Nikki's son? Vote:

Dad & Delia. I just 'can't' with this. Although I felt a bit of a disconnect with some of the grown-up Delia scenes on Friday's episode, by the end when she was telling Billy that he had to let her go, it was full-on sobbing over here. Billy and Chloe are two favorite characters, which makes Delia special. Ugh. The emotion is a win, but the circumstances suck. Also a huge bummer is that it appears Adam will once again be going down the path of being ostracized by all and sundry. There is some question as to whether he actually hit Delia (he would have felt it; Nikki was also out driving...), but it's extremely likely he'll get blamed regardless. Sigh. Blah. This is going to put us all through the wringer...

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